Manny Pacquiao, left, and Juan Manuel Marquez, right, pose for photos during a news conference Wednesday. It is the fourth meeting between the two fighters. JULIE JACOBSON, AP

They have made so many reruns, you wonder why this fight isn't shown on TV Land.

They are doing it again Saturday at the MGM Grand, because they know you will pay to watch.

The only other reason that Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez reunite is that they have little else to do.

Pacuqiao-Marquez I, in 2004, was a draw, but a judge later admitted that he should have scored the first round 10-6 for Pacquiao instead of 10-7. After all, Pac-Man knocked down Marquez three times.

Pacquiao won Two and Three. There was some doubt about the Two decision and much more about Three, but neither call was as outrageous as Tim Bradley's gift box over Pacquiao in June.

The only path to resolution is another Pacquiao victory. If Marquez wins, Bob Arum will be firing up the engines for Five before the gloves are stripped off.

When money is the only driver, the drama gets lost. Pacquiao has not fought Bradley again because Bradley is recovering from an ankle injury. Marquez hasn't fought anyone significant because he does not do big box-office without Pacquiao.

As a meat substitute for the only fight that can intrigue the world, this is soggy lettuce indeed.

What will happen first? Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. or the next NHL game?

Mayweather's people are talking about fighting twice in 2013, probably against Roberto Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez because Golden Boy handles both.

Pacquiao's next opponent is probably Brandon Rios, a fellow Top Rank client.

Time marches over them both. If they wait too much longer, they can star in The Expendables III.

"What's going to ruin our sport is when promoters don't deal with each other," he said. "The UFC has solved that problem. If UFC says you and you are fighting, you're fighting. You don't have that liberty, and so there are fights that people want to see.

"Canelo and (Julio Cesar) Chavez Jr. (promoted by Top Rank) would be the second-best fight. But the promoters can't get along. Give me a break. Keep the personal stuff at home. I'm a little ashamed of the promoters. I'm friendly with both, but if UFC takes over our sport, then it's out fault."

Ironically Roach has injected performance-enhancer questions into this fight, with Marquez using Angel Heredia Hernandez as a personal trainer. Hernandez was a prosecution witness in the BALCO trials and admitted that he supervised Marion Jones' drug protocol.

Of course boxing has no uniform policy because there is no such thing as "boxing" from an administrative sense. But boxing cheaters are far more dangerous than baseball cheaters. It's brass knuckles through chemistry.

The dreamers among us envision a day when the 50 state athletic commissioners meet to empower a national board that will supervise boxing, with Congressional backing. And perhaps a spinoff would be a competition committee that, in conjunction with the TV networks, would make the right fights happen.

Episodic rivalries can be glorious and damaging. The best one in these parts was Bobby Chacon-Bazooka Limon. They met four times in a seven-year span, beginning in 1974.

"Bobby was a beautiful boxer when he first came out," said Don Chargin, the promoter. "Then he caught up with what his fans wanted. Limon was a straight-ahead guy. By the time they fought, they both got a little ticked off if your punches missed them."

Limon won a 10-round decision in Mexicali. Five years later they met in L.A. and were headed for a rousing finish when a head butt stopped the fight in the seventh round, and it was declared a technical draw.

Eleven months later, again in L.A., Chacon squeezed out a split decision. At this point it was 1-1-1. By then Chacon was showing the battle scars, especially with two punishing fights against Cornelius Boza-Edwards. His wife Valerie begged him to stop boxing. When he didn't, she put a rifle in her mouth and killed herself.

In the peculiar ethos of boxing, Chacon dedicated his next victory to Valerie and kept going.

Chacon-Limon 4 happened in Sacramento and was the only championship fight of the series. Limon knocked Chacon down twice and was headed for a cleansing victory when Chacon floored him with 10 seconds left in the fight. Chacon won by one, one and two points.

Chacon is still with us, in a sense. He is 61, a victim of pugilistic dementia for the past 12 years. "Most guys in that situation get mean," Chargin said. "Bobby's still happy-go-lucky, every time you see him."

Pacquiao and Marquez aim their heads against the same wall Saturday night. Like most of 21st-century American culture, it promises pointless fun.

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